Chavez vs Rubio Controversy: WBC Blames Texas Commission For Lack of Drug Testing

The World Boxing Council (WBC) is blaming the Texas commission for failing to administer post-fight drug tests following Julio Cesar Chavez Jr's Saturday win over Marco Antonio Rubio, and have told Rubio's team to take their protest and complaints to Texas, not to the WBC.

"We are not responsible for that review. If a drug test was not performed, that is something that always corresponds to the local commissions - which in this case was the responsibility of the Texas commission and not the World Boxing Council. The WBC can not get involved in the internal affairs of the commissions. It is up to Texas to respond to those claims."

Rubio's promoter says the fighter told him in the ninth round it was like he was fighting a heavyweight, but frankly it wasn't far off from that -- Chavez weighed 181 pounds on the HBO unofficial scales prior to the fight, and that was about what he was at in the ring. He was a big guy, 10 pounds heavier than Rubio's HBO weigh-in on the night. He's probably the biggest guy Rubio's ever fought in terms of weight on the night, and Chavez was using that weight to muscle and bully Rubio.

As for the WBC, Rubio's team says that the WBC told them they "forgot" to do the drug testing. Now they're pleading innocence or ignorance, or maybe a bit of both.

But the reality is this whole thing just plain reeks, and the WBC has their hand stuck in the cookie jar here, and now they're trying to hide the jar behind their back. It's not just the drug testing. They also refused to replace referee Guadalupe Garcia even though Rubio's team complained that they weren't following their own rules on having a neutral referee for a world title fight.

Even worse than that, they allowed open scoring during the fight. That's a WBC thing, but it does not apply to commissions under the unified rules of the Association of Boxing Commissions, which includes Texas. Open scoring is not in place in the United States, but it happened anyway. Harold Lederman of HBO theorized that the Texas commission had been railroaded by the WBC in that case, and maybe so.

Look, there are a LOT of WBC title fights held in the United States. For example, Floyd Mayweather vs Victor Ortiz last September was a WBC title fight in Nevada. There was no open scoring. For a Chavez fight, it happened. Why? And when you add that in with all of the other issues -- Chavez's DWI arrest, the referee, the lack of drug testing -- you can surely understand why people are wondering just what in the hell was going on on Saturday night.